Specially fabricated radiator hoses were classified as motor vehicle parts, not generic rubber tubing, under the residuary tariff entry.

Radiator hoses specially cut and fabricated to the contour and specification of motor vehicles were treated as identifiable motor vehicle components rather than as generic piping or tubing of unhardened vulcanised rubber. The decisive test was whether the article was a component part of a motor vehicle, not merely the material from which it was made. Because radiator hoses were not specifically covered by the amended motor vehicle entry, they fell to be classified under the residuary tariff item. The goods were therefore classified as motor vehicle parts under the residuary entry, and the departmental challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether radiator hoses manufactured to the contour and specification of motor vehicles were classifiable as piping and tubing of unhardened vulcanised rubber under Item No. 16A(3) of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, or as motor vehicle parts under the residuary Item No. 68 of the Central Excise Tariff.

Analysis: The goods were not mere lengths of hose in the generic sense. They were cut to required length and fabricated to fit motor vehicles, and the evidence showed supply as original equipment to motor vehicle manufacturers. The decisive test applied was whether the article was identifiable as a component part of a motor vehicle rather than being classified only by its generic description. On that footing, radiator hoses were more appropriately treated as motor vehicle parts. Since radiator hoses were not specified in Item No. 34A after the 1979 amendment, they could not be brought within that specific motor vehicle entry and therefore fell to be classified under the residuary entry.

Conclusion: The radiator hoses were not classifiable under Item No. 16A(3); they were correctly classifiable as motor vehicle parts under Item No. 68. The appeal was therefore liable to be rejected.

Final Conclusion: The order classifying the goods under the residuary tariff entry was sustained, and the departmental challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an article is specially fabricated and identifiable as a component part of a motor vehicle, it is to be classified as a motor vehicle part under the appropriate tariff entry rather than under a broad generic description of the material from which it is made.

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